Error reporting is a popular subsystem in end-user-faced software applications. For instance, some operating systems have an error reporting system to support the operating system per se and applications running on it. When an error, e.g., a crash event, happens, the applications will popup a dialog to prompt the user whether to send the error report to the software manufacturer. The error reports collected by the manufacturer are very essential in software customer service and product improvement, and are valuable especially in user scenario reproduction to fix defects.
FIG. 1 shows an example of an error report dialog, which may appear when a problem occurs in an application, in which the user is provided with options to choose whether to send the error report. The error report is sent from the user's system to a remote site, in order to help the manufacturer in reproducing the error and upgrading its products. Such an error report usually contains:                Where the problem happened in the software or hardware. Occasionally, empty files might be included as an initial indication of a problem.        Type or severity of the problem, if known.        Files that are of help to describe the problem (typically system or report-generated files about the software behavior before or after the problem occurred).        Basic software and hardware information (such as operating system version and language, device module and manufacturer, or memory and hard disk size).        Memory Dump of the application.        
A memory dump is very helpful to developers to trace out the problem. Unfortunately, a memory dump may include sensitive user information. For example, a memory dump may produce information including the contents of a document, so that the confidential data thereof cannot be protected in the error reporting system any longer. The possibility of leaking a user's privacy in error reporting solutions makes the users of software applications prefer not to send error reports rather than take the risk of leaking their sensitive information.